Selling books to coventioneers

[spicedogs]

 

During the Democratic and Republican convention, bookstores are trying to maximize their profits. Here's an interesting article talking about just that. I was just tickled pink at what the Common Good  Books had to say about whether they would display books on either the Democratic side or the Republican side. Common Good Books is owned by Garrison Keillor. He is a staunch Democrat, and his city is hosting the Republican convention. What should his bookstore do?  Display books relating to Democratic views or books bashing Republicans. They solved it in a very diplomatic way. Read the article, or just glance down and look at the paragraph with the boldface large type.

By Marjorie Kehe | August 25, 2008 edition

The eyes of the world are on Denver today, even as next week they will be on St. Paul. So trade publication Bookselling this Week surveyed Denver and St. Paul area independent bookstores to see what they’d be doing to attract conventioneers. The answers varied as much as, well, Democrats do from Republicans.

In Denver there seems to be a lot more excitement about the possibilities involved. At the famed Tattered Cover Bookstore big efforts are underway to profit from the proximity of the LoDo store to the Pepsi Center (where the Democratic National Convention is being held.)

Plenty of big-name authors will be swinging by the store to sign books, everyone from Van Jones to Jim Wallis to Ted Sorenson to Jane Mayer. (And that’s just today.)

There will also be politically themed displays on the floor, including collections of Right and Left books and a reading list for presidential nominees that asks famed Western authors (George Sibley, Barry Lopez, Rick Bass, Laura Prichtett) what books the next president of the United States should turn to in order to understand something about the American West and also to gain “information, inspiration, and guidance.”

In St. Paul, at the Republican National Convention, however, there is much less buzz. At Common Sense Books, the bookstore owned by Garrison Keillor, Keillor is reported to have said, in response to a question about what to display during convention time, “Well, it’s back-to-school week, isn’t it?”

At Micawber’s Books, also in St. Paul, co-owner Hans Weyandt is quoted as saying that with his store’s left-of-center customer base he’s not sure he’ll be drawing many Republican conventioneers. His one ray of hope: Maybe they’ll get some protestors.

Across the river, in Minneapolis’s Magers & Quinn Booksellers, there is excitement over the idea that evening traffic will be strong. But they’re figuring that by that time conventioneers may be hungry for something more like a good volume of poetry.

In fact, spoken like a true book person, manager Jay Peterson says he’s prepared to recommend “Out Stealing Horses” by Norwegian novelist Per Petterson. It has nothing to do with politics, of course, but the way Peterson figures it, after being around politicians all day, conventioneers may find it very refreshing to “take a ride out to the real Norway with this guy.”



PS.: I told the author of her faux pas. GK's bookstore is called "Common Good Books" and and not "Common Sense Books."


    

SOURCE:   Christian Science Monitor




    

Comments

[mythicfeline.livejournal.com]

Straining to see if I recognize anybody there. I had coffee next door at a funky coffee shop, Nina's, on occasion, esp. during NaNoWriMo. Have been meaning to get to the store. That and W.A.Frost restaurant are said to be GK's haunts.

[spicedogs.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I knew that he likes Nina's, I didn't know about W.A. Frost.

[xgirl30]

I'll have to check out that bookstore sometime. I'm in that neighborhood a lot but I've never gone in there. (I'll have to check out Nina's too.)
I didn't know GK liked W.A. Frost. They have great food there. (and a gorgeous patio area.)

[spicedogs.livejournal.com]

Take pictures. I can enjoy them vicariously.

[xgirl30]

I'll have to be sure to do that when I go. (I always carry my camera in my purse so I'll be all set.)

[spicedogs.livejournal.com]

Cool. I always have my camera ready.